Teacher takes on radio station

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Students do not often think about what teachers do in their free time, but one Xavier teacher has been working on quite the extracurricular project. Theology teacher Mrs. Sue May and her husband Tony have recently gotten their Catholic radio station onto local airwaves after a ten year journey. The inspiration for the station came from trips to the Omaha area, where there are several Catholic radio stations. They decided they wanted to have one available for Cedar Rapids area listeners.

“Our mission is really just to evangelize and bring Jesus Christ into people’s hearts and souls,” S. May said.

The May’s started their journey by applying to the Federal Communications Commission for their license; they were then granted a construction permit to start building the station they had dreamed of. The FCC gave them a deadline of March 27 to get a signal, or else their license would be revoked. The May’s established their signal with only five hours to spare. 88.7 KMMK officially aired on April 8th, Divine Mercy Sunday at 3 p.m., which is the Divine Mercy Hour.

The call letters KMMK honor St. Maximilian Kolbe, the patron saint of amateur radio, and the Virgin Mary. St Maximilian Kolbe had a strong devotion to Mary, and the May’s nicknamed the station’s equipment shed “Mary’s House.” The station is completely computer run, and broadcasts from a cell tower in Coggon, Iowa. The station is currently 24/7 talk radio, broadcasting EWTN content. The May’s have plans to get an official programming box, and the station will soon air Relevant Radio, Ave Maria Radio, and Catholic music in addition to the current EWTN content. They also hope to air more local programming with Xavier students and local priests. Eventually, they will run live content from a small studio in their home.

“Our station is getting a much wider reach than we ever anticipated,” S. May said.

The station currently reaches as far outside of Cedar Rapids as Dubuque, Waterloo, Victor, and Oskaloosa. The Mays’ station can be heard on 88.7 KMMK FM.